At least 15 people were killed during a stampede at a railway station in India’s capital on Saturday night, as crowds rushed to catch trains heading to the world’s largest religious gathering, according to a medical official speaking to AFP.
The Kumbh Mela, which takes place every 12 years, attracts millions of Hindu devotees to the northern city of Prayagraj. The event has a history of crowd-related tragedies, including a recent one last month where at least 30 people died in another stampede at the holy confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna, and the mythical Saraswati rivers.
The stampede at the train station in New Delhi appeared to erupt as crowds struggled to board trains for the ongoing Kumbh Mela, which will conclude on February 26.
“I can confirm 15 deaths at the hospital. They don’t have any visible injuries. Most likely, they died from hypoxia or possibly blunt force trauma, but this will only be confirmed after an autopsy,” said Dr. Ritu Saxena, deputy medical superintendent of Lok Nayak Hospital in New Delhi, speaking to AFP.
“There are also 11 others injured. Most of them are stable with orthopedic injuries,” she added.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his distress over the stampede.
“My thoughts are with all those who have lost their loved ones. I pray that the injured recover swiftly,” he said in a post on X.
The governor of the capital territory Delhi, Vinai Kumar Saxena, stated that disaster management teams had been deployed, and “all hospitals are prepared to handle related emergencies.”
Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw confirmed that additional special trains were being operated from New Delhi to accommodate the surge of devotees.
The six-week Kumbh Mela is a significant event on the Hindu religious calendar, with around 500 million devotees already attending since the festival began last month.
In 1954, more than 400 people lost their lives after being trampled or drowned during a single day of the festival, one of the deadliest crowd-related disasters globally. In 2013, 36 people were crushed to death during the last Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj.
